Beacon Best of 2000

Pieces by 26 writers of diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds are collected in this uneven anthology compiled by guest editor Edwidge Danticat (Krik? Krak!). Fiction, nonfiction and poetry are all represented, with many of the best entries falling under the heading of nonfiction. ""Walking,"" by Kate Krautkramer, tells of a young woman's fascination with, and attachment to, two wonderfully eccentric elderly women who live on the outskirts of a small mountain town in Colorado. In ""Death of the Cowboy,"" Larry McMurtry reflects on the ever-changing West, remembering his childhood on a Texas ranch and his father's determination to raise cattle. Pico Iyer's ""End of Empire"" describes the plight of the Anglo-Indian, more English than the English. A few other nonfiction entries are more conventional, less assured meditations on race and identity. The fiction ranges all over the globe in settings, from Hawaii (Lois-Ann Yamanaka, ""Ten Thousand in the Round"") to Burma (Chang-rae Lee, ""The Volunteers""). ""Pet Fly"" by Roger Mosley, tells of a young black man accused of sexual harassment who comes to understand that his life means little to fellow employees. Gabriel Garc!a M rquez's delightful ""Meeting in August"" concerns a woman visiting a town to tend the graves of relatives, who has a fling with an anonymous stranger. The poetry choices are less inspired: a strident rant about Waco, a clich d poem about staring at old photographs. ""Speak"" by Aimee Nezhukumatathil, however, is a pleasant exception. ""If the Hopi say ripi/to mean notch, then/for them, serration/is `ripiripiripi.'"" It is not an easy task to combine three genres of literature in an anthology, and here the results are mixed. On a practical level, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between fiction and nonfiction here, since several pieces can fit both categories. Still, the best entries do open windows onto unfamiliar worlds. (Oct.)